"Has anything happened with Mongrel since I've been gone? Any fights, new clips, maybe even their identity?"
Camille's shoulders drooped and she shook her head slowly, "No…nothing. I scoured every piece of the internet and I couldn't find anything about our idol."
I tightly closed my fist, feeling a dull pain go through my body as I put the other hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm fully confident our Lord Mongrel is in the depths of the dream realm training to reach an unrivaled state of pure nirvana." I turned to face her with my bright smile full of sunshine. "Yes, I believe they must be in the midst of their second nightmare."
Camille looked at me with eyes overflowing with hope, before commenting, "Vincent…your eyes are weird."
I backed away from here as my hands creeped up to my face, feeling out the dark circles under my eyes. "Are they that bad?" I asked Camille who had a concerned look on her face.
Manami, who was walking in front of us with Ravi, skipped towards me. "Vincent, I'll have to be honest. Ever since I first saw you on the street a few minutes ago, I wondered whether you hadn't slept for a week straight."
My expression soured as I looked into the sea blue eyes of the girl, "I've been sleeping properly! I actually slept on the way here on the train with Orochi– er, I mean my dad!"
I almost wanted to slice off my tongue with a saw when I said those last few words. I couldn't believe I had to put up with that monstrous freak's lie, but the way he was acting, I had to play along with his mind games or else…I wasn't fully clear on what he was capable of.
It irritated me. Even in the waking world, I had no sense of freedom. Even my little shopping spree with him before I met Manami and the others was a cautionary test to see how far he would let me go. With the way he intervened in my talk with Manami, he drew the line at people.
However, that line was swiftly demolished when he permitted me to go alone with my friends.
What was the reason for that? There was little benefit to gain for him to let me get away. For all he knew, I was speeding far away in a PTV and reported him to the government already. Orochi seemed strong, but I'm sure he wouldn't be able to take down multiple awakened at once, especially ones who were trained in the government.
Then, in the intercontinental awakened train that brought us to WSQC, Orochi brought up my mission–Saving a third of the government forces by simply letting me apply as a government awakened.
Besides the enigmatic and utterly ridiculous logic, as well a little bit of illegal substance usage, that would require someone to come up with such an absurd joke–he was also throwing me into the den of his enemy.
I remember underneath the floating islands of the enthralling Chained Isles. When I was riding on the back of Sevras, the mighty white dragon that seemed to contain the essence of the sun itself, enveloped in the dragon's fiery mane as Lucius explained that he didn't want to attract the attention of the White Feather Clan.
While the White Feather Clan was a legacy clan of astonishing power, it was also backed by the power of the Great Clan, Valor.
The Government was nowhere near the power of a Great Clan, however, they were formidable nonetheless. Anyway, I didn't expect Lucius and the rest of his compatriots to withstand the government forces themselves.
Yes, I was sure! All I had to do was dance to their fiddle and then secretly report them to the government! I would decisely carve their names on gravestones while watching from a beach with a sun umbrella and a drink.
…Yeah, what a joke.
The reason Orochi could risk letting me go on my own, the reason he prompted me to go join the government–the same people who would gladly kill him for the atrocities he committed– the reason was all because of that damned mad saint, Lucius.
I tried gathering what I could to theorize what insidious aspect Lucius held. He told me himself that he was an oracle, an extremely talented oracle at that. I didn't know how far he could see into the future and how detailed it was, but he definitely had a masterful grasp of his own abilities.
If it was Lucius, then there must be a catch on why I couldn't just report him and the others to the government.
I was still a mouse in a maze, I just deceived myself thinking that I was free when the maze walls were just farther away.
What a joke.
"HEY, VINCENT!" Manami grabbed my shirt and pulled my ear to her mouth. It was like a bomb detonated in my skull.
I rubbed my ears, wondering whether I was bleeding when I locked eyes with the three of my friends with concerned looks in their eyes.
"Huh? Why did you shout? Ahhhh…" I was hunched over with a hand on my knee as Iasked them through the ringing in my head.
"You've been standing still for a solid minute unresponsive while we kept calling your name. You sure you didn't sleep for a week straight?" Manami said, arrogant enough to look sympathetic when she was the siren who released a sonic boom straight into my ear.
"Ah? Yeah! I promise you, I'm fine! I just zone out a lot, did you guys not remember that back in the academy?"
I sighed, bringing up the runes of my flaw. I quickly reallocated the depletion of my humors and I started to become a little more aware of my surroundings.
I couldn't focus properly because of my flaw, it was just unfair that I had to manage it while going through so much.
"Okay, enough worrying about me, let's go to the venue okay? What's the place anyway?" I grabbed my fellow awakened shoulders and pushed them forward hastily. I acted like nothing was happening, since I had no other idea what I could do.
After all the big talk in my head and in front of Lucius when he turned me into mince meat.
What a joke I was.